It has been known to those skilled in the art to provide a fishing reel with a mechanism whereby fishing line may be payed out during the landing of a fish to effectively prevent the fishing line from snapping. Typically these paying out means incorporate drag mechanisms so that the point at which the line begins to be payed out, i.e., the pull on the line by the fish, may be selectively determined.
One known approach to selectively apply a breaking force or drag against the paying out of line has been the location of a drag mechanism at the rear of the reel in coaxial alignment with the shaft of the reel which rotates in response to the pay out fishing line. In practice, however, the rear mounted drag mechanisms have posed manufacturing problems which tend to make these mechanisms expensive and therefore includable in only the most expensive of reels. Specifically the problems in manufacturing are concerned with the close tolerances required to rotatably support and maintain the alignment of the shaft to permit it to freely rotate for smooth operation of the reel when drag is not required while at the same time permitting drag to be selectively imposed upon the shaft.
The present invention is directed toward overcoming the problems heretofore associated with rear mounted drag mechanisms.